Teller and Penn - 1/18/01

So there's a magic convention in SinCity. It's the Desert Magic Seminar, or something like that. We were supposed to run a few more days at the Rio, but because of the convention, they cut us short. The upside was that there are a lot of friends in town. Jerry Camero (from Balloon of Blood), is staying at the Slammer. Jamy is over at Tomsoni's, Aye Jaye and his family are running around in Pink Death after a night at the Slammer, and there's Billy McComb, and Jay Marshall running around. A lot of people to hang with and have fun with.

So, I've been hanging out there a little, watching some magic, but mostly eating and making jokes. There was a great meeting of Jerry and Jamy at the Slammer and they did card and coin tricks for each other and a few of us hanging around. It's been fun.

So, the last show was this afternoon, and Siegfried and Roy were supposed to MC, but Siegfried is very sick with the flu. I thought it would be a great idea to have Roy and Teller do it and do the aftermath of "MTV's Celebrity Death Match" live, but they knew Roy wouldn't show up. They asked us both to fill in. No money. No upside, but we said yes, because, well, I think because we always say yes.

I worked out fast, showered, and rushed over to the Rio. The same theater we just played. There were no snacks backstage and we were running late. Teller and I were in street clothes, no P&T drag, and just waiting to go on. Because there was no money and we weren't even announced, we were really loose. We were in good moods. All we really had to do was introduce a Japanese magician named Shimada. Lance said we should just go out as Siegfried and Roy. We were in such a good mood, Lance was writing for us. We walked out and posed and I said, "I'm Siegfried Fishbacher and this is my partner, Horn." It got a nice laugh. I said I was reminded of when I had to fill in for Miles Davis at an awards show (a true story). That was about it. We did a lot of S&R posing and then ended with a Krasher joke (everyone was writing for us), "Siegfried and Roy give you SARMOTI, Siegfried And Roy Masters Of The Impossible, we give you Patooey, Penn And Teller Unable To Do the Impossible Or Even Make An Anagram." It played.

Our second hunk was making fun of Lance. I did his accent and waver (and we all know how good my impressions are). But, the last hunk killed. We had talked about having Teller talk like we did at the Magicians of the Year awards a few years ago, and at the last minute, I took off my mic and gave it to Teller. WE were introduced as "Teller and Penn" and we went out and I stood there smiling and Teller started talking. Man, the crowd went wild. I mean wild wild wild. Teller told a story of Shimada, and I smiled and made gestures behind him. Teller was brilliant. He let himself get really irritated, but knew just how to enjoy it and let everyone enjoy it. He said, "This is harder than I thought" and brought down the house, and also said, "I don't do that" when I was making faces and illustrating what he was saying. We really had fun like old pros. It was a blast. I flipped him the finger behind his back and killed. They go for the classy stuff. Man, it really killed. They loved it.

We tried to go to the dealers' room, but we couldn't move around together. There were just too many people all over us. Man, it was funny. I really loved doing it. It made me feel really close to Teller. It was amazing that we've built this thing up to where just reversing roles and doing nothing can bring down the house. And, man, Teller was funny. He just kept the right tone, and killed the whole time. We were really working together.

I hung out with everyone again. I went to the dealers' room finally and bought a "Light Heavy Chest." This is a hypnotism thing that was done in Africa by Robert-Houdin in the 19th Century. It was great. I bought it on a whim to be ready to do at the Slammer. Now when any of you visit, I can make you "As weak as a woman." It's really cool.

So, it was a great day. I have to say I really felt the joy of working 25 years with Teller just so clearly it was wonderful, and I was so kind of happy with magic that I bought a trick. I don't know if I've ever really done that before. I hope I do this a lot at the Slammer.

It was a good day. How great was it to hear Teller do, "My name is Teller, and this is my partner, Penn Jillette? We are Teller & Penn."

Penn

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